“I really wanted the audience to know more than just the light and glamor of what they see on stage.” – Chan Hon Goh
Reviews and recommendations are impartial and products are independently selected. Postmedia can earn an associated commission from purchases made via links on this page.
Article content
Watching a live production of the Nutcracker Ballet is a holiday tradition that goes hand in hand with cut trees and baked treats for many people.
Advertising
This ad has not been loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
But once again, our norm has been hijacked by COVID-19 as Vancouver’s Goh Ballet Academy’s annual holiday production has gone dark. This year, as it turned away from the usual big show with Sugar Plum, Goh leaned into a new documentary with The Nutcracker at the center.
The 25-minute long film The Reality of a Dream: A Nutcracker Documentary, online and free to watch until January 10, is not a record of an actual Nutcracker production that Goh has built up since 2009, but rather a behind-the-scenes look at , what it takes to prepare dancers for the annual tent event.
“We wanted to give the audience a different lens to see how The Nutcracker is produced,” said Ryan Mah of Black Rhino Creative, the film’s director.
Advertising
This ad has not been loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Seeing the dancers sweat their life dreams feels like you have sneaked a highlight of a process.
“I really wanted the audience to know more than just the light and glamor of what they see on stage,” said company director Chan Hon Goh, a former lead dancer for the National Ballet of Canada.
For the Goh Ballet Academy, a fixture in Vancouver since 1977, the film was a chance to get the dancers going and give them an audience, albeit cameras, to meet.
“This whole thing happened because we felt with the pandemic that art without live performances has somehow been forgotten, if you will,” Goh said. “It has been such a challenge for our dancers and dancers everywhere to stay motivated, stay inspired because we have not had outlets for live performances.”
Advertising
This ad has not been loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The Reality of a Dream focuses on five Goh Ballet Academy dancers and Goh as they audition and then rehearse for The Nutcracker.
“There’s a line, as Chan says in the film, which is something along the lines of you buying your ticket, but you do not really know how much work is behind that ticket, so we would draw the curtains back,” Mah said. .
And what’s behind the curtains is a lot of personality.
“For me, for any good documentary or movie, you need good characters,” Mah said. “There’s a universal message that everyone has a dream of achieving something to become the ultimate ballet dancer, but everyone’s circumstances to get there will be different, and for me as a filmmaker, that’s what I’m interested in.”
Enter Natalie May Dixon, 19, (Spanish lead, floral soloist, snowflake); Douglas Oliveira de Souza, 25, (Icicles debut, Russian soloist); Nathanial Craig, 22, (Icicles debut, Russian soloist); Theepika Sivananthan, 10, (Lead jeweler) and Shino Liu, 15, (reindeer, Spanish lady).
Advertising
This ad has not been loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“It was hard. I see stories behind each of our dancers here. Each one of them is so individual, but I think when it came to choosing, it was about really finding specific challenges that went out. over being a dancer, ”Goh said.
The film was shot here and at Goh’s location in Toronto. The film tells you what drives these dancers. From a refugee who wants a life away from gangs to a little girl with big dreams and even a dancer who did not even dance until six years ago, the stories are diverse and modern.
“I think they can take away how dedicated we are. How strong and resilient you have to be to be a ballet dancer,” said Craig, who is the late bloomer and also shares in the film his own gender journey. “You can see how much joy we find even with the hardships that may come. It really is a highlight of our world. “
dgee@postmedia.com
Post a Comment